Ministry Of Planning Terms News Item On Rawalpindi Kahuta Road As Contrary, Misleading

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published February 13, 2020 | 11:37 PM

Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives on Thursday described as contrary and misleading a news report appearing in certain newspaper that dualization of Rawalpindi Kahuta Road project got delayed by the planning ministry

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Feb, 2020 ) :Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives on Thursday described as contrary and misleading a news report appearing in certain newspaper that dualization of Rawalpindi Kahuta Road project got delayed by the planning ministry.

Rawalpindi Kahuta Road falls under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Punjab and the National Economic Council (NEC) while considering the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2019-20 submitted through a Summary by the Ministry of Planning decided that no provincial roads will be taken up in the PSDP except for the less developed areas of Balochistan, South Punjab, South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ex-Fata and Gilgit Baltistan, said a press release issued here.

The dualization of Rawalpindi -Sihala Kahuta road project was not included in the PSDP 2019-20 on the basis of above mentioned policy decision.

The above stated decision of the NEC chaired by the Prime Minister with Chief Minister of all federating units as its members for non-inclusion of the Rawalpindi-Kahuta road project along with other 5 projects takes precedence over any earlier decision taken by the Executive Committee of NEC.

Moreover, bidding process was completed by National Highway Authority (NHA) in violation of rules and procedures set by the Planning Commission as the authorization was not issued by Ministry of Planning and subsequent administrative approval was also not issued by the Ministry of Communications.

It may be emphasized that the matter on this project is subjudice before the honorable Islamabad High Court in Writ Petition No.2548/2019 and publishing of such advertisements seems to be an attempt to influence the judicial process.